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Time to Kill Microsoft Word?
Allnighterking writes "Apparently the frustration with another Windows Product is starting to reach increasingly visible users. John Dvorak over at ABC News is starting to question if it's time to kill Word With Viable options like Open Office.org available for Windows as well as AbiWord and others. Since they are both using XML as a way to create the documents. Or perhaps dropping a separate application altogether and going with something like X Forms to create a browser based office suite."
FooAtWFU says (in his sig)
"You keep using that word. I do not think that it means what you think it means."
This sig has never been more apropos.
:wq
I use OOO often and because I often write in English (not my 1st. language) I need the spell checker. But it does not work as well as google or as MS Word's.
Nothing in the world is more dangerous than sincere ignorance and conscientious stupidity.
"But why use WORD to create HTML documents? That's what notepad is for."
But why use NOTEPAD to create HTML documents? That's what vi is for.
Kill Microsoft Word
.doc file as an e-mail attachment. I click on it and Word boots. Then I'm told I need to add a feature to read the file. It's always the same feature, apparently. I say Yes to adding the feature. It installs it, then loads the file from the e-mail. The next time I click on the e-mail, the same thing happens, and so on. Obviously the feature is never actually added.
.doc format. .doc formats or .rtf seldom gets perfect results. I'm always amused by the warning that things will change if I save in some format or other, yet after the save absolutely nothing has changed.
Why the Popular Word Processing Program Should Be Scrapped
Commentary
By John C. Dvorak
PC Magazine
Aug. 24, 2004
-- When is the last time anyone talked about Microsoft Word? Here's a program on its last legs that should probably be discarded and rethought completely. It has become a kludge. This is apparent with the latest version in Office 2003.
Let me start out with a couple of my current complaints. My biggest annoyance with the current version is that it keeps reinstalling features, which requires me to reinsert the master disc over and over. I'm not sure if this is a trick to check with Microsoft's database to make sure I'm a registered user or if the program is just stupid.
Here's the scenario. I get a
While that was an eye-roller, within six months a more ominous error cropped up. Now when I start Word I get a message saying, "An error occurred and this feature is no longer functioning properly. Would you like to repair this feature now?" It never says what feature it wants to repair. I click Yes and it asks for the disc, and then it repairs the feature -- at least until the next time I start Word, when I get the same message.
If I stop repairing, I get another dialog that says, "The document contains macros. Macro language support for this application is disabled. Features requiring VBA are not available. Would you like to open this document read-only?" Whether I click Yes or Cancel makes absolutely no difference, as there is no document involved! I merely started the program. After bypassing these roadblocks, the program runs fine.
I suppose I should reinstall Word, but other people have told me they have the same problems. So why bother?
Messy Markups
My irritation with Word began last year when we were finishing Online! The Book for Prentice-Hall. The editing required a lot of markups using Word, since the publisher seemed enamored with Word's markup capability, whereby you can track changes. This was great, except that between the various versions of Windows (Word 97, Word 2000, Word XP, Word 2003, and a couple of Mac versions) used by the authors and editors, we had a huge mess.
This was laughable -- actually, a nightmare. I concluded that the program is out of control and needs to be scrapped. Users should all be given some new program for an upgrade charge of $10 -- just to get everyone on the same page.
Meanwhile, let's not forget the historical issues with Word. Let's list a few.
Previous Problems
The ever-changing
Even saving to older
Dubious HTML creation.
How hard is it for Word to create a simple brain-dead HTML file without embedding a ton of junk? It can't seem to handle any moderate formatting either. The newest version can create some sort of XML file too, but for what purpose I have no idea. Because its HTML creation is so poor, though, why would I trust it to do anything fancier?
Plain-text conundrum.
Users of plain-text editors know that Microsoft has never been able to get Word to generate a simple ASCII file without issues. First, there is no option to create a plain ASCII file. Instead, we can create a variety of so-called "plain text" files, none of which seem to be plain text.
End of the Line?
With the newest version of Word, when you want to save plain text you get a d
I remember the last time that my grammar checker tried to change the spelling or definition of one my words... I was TOTALLY freaking out.
Seriously, this guy is not doing any good for himself (as a self-proclaimed "expert") by disclosing that he's been struggling for half a year with the problem that could have been solved by a 15 minute call to MS Support.
You can undo an autocomplete or autocorrect with Ctrl+Z, so you don't have to change it back manually. You can also customize all the types of auto changes it makes. I find the feature very handy and would not advise to turn it all off.